The ‘new’ model type…

Many of us have always suspected that for some gay male designers, the perfect woman looks like…..a young boy. That’s the body shape of the models you see on catwalks and in so many fashion advertising campaigns. No hips, no bust, minimal thighs and body fat. If this is your natural shape and you are a woman, super. Do not read this as an attack on you. But the vast majority of women do not look like this.

And yet, 99% of the women we see on designer catwalks and in ad campaigns DO.

What’s up with that.

So now, could it be that designers are just going to dispense with women altogether when it comes to modelling women’s fashion? Are they just going to start using young boys?

The 19-year-old from Melbourne created a sensation when he closed the Jean-Paul Gaultier womens wear show dressed as a bride, complete with a mohawk, black veil and long black gloves, reported the Herald Sun.

The gender-bending turn, in front of guests including French Vogue boss Emmanuelle Alt and actor Catherine Deneuve, came after Pejic closed Gaultier’s menswear show last week dressed as a woman. Pejic, who has been dubbed “James Blond”, is also the face of Gaultier’s new advertising campaign and appears in the latest Marc Jacobs campaign.

His look has made him one of the fashion scene’s most popular new stars, according to Matthew Anderson, director of Pejic’s Australian agency, Chadwick Models. “The success and embracement of Andrej in the fashion world has been phenomenal,” Anderson said. “No one is pretending that this is the new norm, but what Andrej is doing is providing a canvas for designers who have always pushed boundaries.

Designers Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs are two of androgynous model Andrej Pejic’s biggest fans. JPG used him to open and close his recent women’s couture show, which is code for “I think this model is the most important and significant one in my show, the one who embodies the image I’m trying to convey”.

The final outfit in most haute couture shows (where the outfits are custom made and cost up to $200K) is the bridal gown. And that’s what Andrej wore for Jean Paul Gaultier.

Mind you, this is the same designer who gave us the Madonna conical bra-top look way back when so I’m thinking he doesn’t have much hands-on experience with the female form and what actual women might like to wear.

I think Andrej Pejic is striking. I understand that fashion designers like to push boundaries and pull publicity. I get that catwalk shows are often theatre. But I also think there’s something a little darker going on.

The fashion world has huge influence. Remember heroin chic? Remember when the models they sent down their runways looked like starving, wasted junkies? That was a dark time for fashion and a shameful one. You might think that what happens on a catwalk is totally removed from your life but it’s not. The clothes that filter into Sportsgirl and Katies and K-Mart are ultimately influenced by what goes on at the pointy end of fashion.

So the use of teenage boys to model clothes for adult women? How does that work exactly?

I have nothing against Andrej Pejic – I can appreciate his beauty and I adore that he is breaking down some barriers about gender and sexuality. I love looking at photos of him.

But taking a more helicopter view, I’m uncomfortable with the idea that according to some of the most influential men in the fashion world, the most desirable female form is male. What do you think?

2 responses to “The ‘new’ model type…”

To be fair, the average designers clothes just don’t work on the average woman’s body so its nice that they’ve finally accepted that this unrealistic view of women’s bodies has been scrapped, and the fashion is aimed towards those who have this type of body, ie men!
It is very interesting to see this article, but i can’t help but look at most designer’s clothes adverts in magazines and note that both the female and male models look exactly the same!

If I hadn’t of read the article, I would have never guessed that she was a he. I agree with Mia that it’s great to see the breaking down of transgendered stigma by giving them a spotlight in the fashion industry, especially for such high profile designers. It will be interesting to see what impact this will have on the modeling industry as a whole, and whether this is the first step on a new path or just hype because he’s different!